Ventana accedes to Roche’s increased purchase bid

BASEL, Switzerland & TUCSON, Ariz. Just five days ago Ventana released a statement from its board of directors recommending that stockholders not tender any of their shares to Roche for the price of $75 per share. This was the fifth extension of the offer from Roche, an offer that, seven months ago, was higher than the stock price but significantly less than the $85.33 listed for the stock at the end of the day on Friday.

Now, according to published reports, Ventana looks like it will sell to Roche but only because the Swiss company has increased its offer to $89.50 per share, a tremendous 72.3 percent increase over Ventana’s share price at the time of the initial offer. It seems the company jumped the offer because it desires Ventana’s diagnostic kits, which predict patient responses to anticancer drugs made by Roche.

From a once-bitter relationship between the two companies, this new offer has completely changed both minds, especially Ventana chief executive officer Christopher Gleeson, who said that he was “very excited” to be joining Roche.

Gleeson will continue as chief executive officer of Ventana’s business, following completion of the transaction and become a member of the Roche Diagnostics Executive Committee. Ventana will remain based in Tucson, Ariz., and its employees will become part of the combined company.

FDA updates labeling for birth control patch to reflect risk of blood clots

WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration has approved additional changes to the labeling for the Ortho Evra patch, made by Ortho McNeil Pharmaceuticals, to include the results of a new study that found users of the birth control patch were at higher risk of developing serious blood clots, also known as venous thromboembolism, which can lead to a pulmonary embolism.

The Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program on behalf of Johnson & Johnson conducted the study. The patch was studied in women aged 15-44. These recent findings support an earlier study that also said women in this group were at higher risk for VTE.

Ortho Evra is a prescription patch that releases the hormones ethinyl estradiol and norelgestromin through the skin into the blood stream. Because the hormones are processed by the body differently than hormones from birth control pills, women using the product will be exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen than if they were using typical birth control pills containing 35 micrograms of estrogen. Increased levels of estrogen may increase the risk of side effects, including VTE.

Women should discuss with their health care providers the possible increased risk of VTE with Ortho Evra, which is applied once a week, and balance this risk against the increased chance of pregnancy if women do not take their birth control pill daily.

PHILADELPHIA A new study that will be published in the Journal of Urology shows that men with enlarged prostates who took a combination of two medications, Avodart and tamsulosin hydrochloride, the generic version of the Astellas Pharma/Boehringer Ingelheim drug Flomax, experienced greater improvements in urinary symptoms than men prescribed either medication alone, according to published reports.

Over time, Avodart (dutasteride) shrinks the prostate, improves symptoms and arrests the enlarged prostate disease process. Tamsulosin is an alpha-blocker that relaxes the muscles in the bladder and prostate.

The study, entitled TheCombination of Avodart and Tamsulosin, looked at male patients with moderate-to-severe enlarged prostate symptoms received a placebo for four weeks and then were randomized to receive Avodart and tamsulosin as combination therapy, for the remaining 24 months of the study.

RELATED NEWS

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic of Hoffman-La Roche’s Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) capsules from Lupin. The company’s generic will be available in 30-, 45- and 75-mg dosage strengths.
The product is inficated to treat acute, uncomplicated influenza A and B in patients 2 weeks of age and older, as well as to prevent influenza A and B in patients 1 year old and older. The drug had U.S. sales of roughly $467.8 million for the 12 months ended October 2017, according to IQVIA data.

Behavioral health pharmacy and telepsychiatry company Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company, has reached a big number with its remote psychiatry offering. The Tukwila, Wash.-based company announced Tuesday that it had facilitated more than 100,000 telepsych consultations on its video conferencing platform.
Genoa attributes the milestone to its recent buildup of its telepsychiatry operations, which grew to include 35 in 2017 from 20 at the start of the year, and included 250 providers. In 2017, the company grew to serve more than 2,500 patients per week.

This year's flu continues to be Texas big, according to the Walgreens Flu Index released Wednesday, as the top 10 communities experiencing the greatest amount of flu incidence were all located in the Lone Star State for the week ended Jan. 6.
Iowa, Idaho and Arkansas rank behind Texas in terms of flu activity. And Montana, Idaho and Iowa ranked highest among states experiencing flu activity gains.

Amneal Biosciences has launched its generic of Otsuka’s Busulfex (busulfan injection, 6 mg/ml). The product is indicated to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia.
Amneal said that its generic is available in cartons of eight single-dose vials, each of which contains 60 mg of the drug in a 10-ml clear sterile solution. The product is made without natural rubber, latex, gluten or preservatives, Amneal said.
The drug had U.S. sales of roughly $80 million for the 12 months ended October 2017, according to data from IQVIA.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals has launched sevelamer carbonate tablets, 800 mg, in 270-count bottles. This generic from the Bridgewater, N.J.-based company is an AB-rated therapeutic equivalent to Renvela.
Amneal also launched five other products in addition to sevelamer carbonate:

Forgotten Password

Registration complete

REGISTER

USERNAME *

Spaces are allowed; punctuation is not allowed except for periods, hyphens, and underscores.

E-MAIL ADDRESS *

A valid e-mail address. All e-mails from the system will be sent to this address. The e-mail address is not made public and will only be used if you wish to receive a new password or wish to receive certain news or notifications by e-mail.

Password *

Confirm Password *

Please choose a password for your account; it must be 8 - 30 characters. .

First Name *

Last Name *

Company Name *

Job Title *

ZIP *

Are you a *

Retailer or Healthcare professional

Non-Retailer

How many stores do you operate?: *

Which best describes the business/industry you work in?: *

Which best describes your job title?: *

Please select the newsletters you would like to subscribe to

DSN A.M.
Daily news stories covering the retail drug industry

Breaking News
First-to-the-market with developing stories in the industry